Today, Metabiota, the pioneer in epidemic risk modeling, announced it has been awarded a subcontract from Black & Veatch (B&V) to support the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s (DTRA) Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP) in Iraq under the Biological Threat Reduction Integrating Contract (BTRIC). Metabiota has also partnered with B&V on DTRA’s recently awarded Cooperative Threat Reduction Integrating Contract (CTRIC) III with an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract ceiling of $970M.
As B&V’s BTRIC science partner, Metabiota will work with local and foreign stakeholders to improve public heath capacity in Iraq by helping to detect, diagnose, and report emerging and re-emerging diseases of international concern. This work builds on Metabiota’s previous CBEP engagements in the Middle East and will further drive Metabiota's understanding of disease risk and scientific capacity in the region. The BTRIC-Iraq award could generate up to $900,000 for Metabiota over the next 18 months. Metabiota’s commitment to building public health capacity in coordination with host country governments was further realized through the award of BTRIC Cameroon ($450,000), where the Metabiota team has worked for over 14 years. As part of this 18-month contract, Metabiota will provide biosafety expertise to inform renovations to Cameroon’s National Veterinary Laboratory (LANAVET) and will also provide trainings to bolster biosafety and biosecurity capabilities.
For CTRIC III, Metabiota will support B&V on awarded Task Orders by leading human and veterinary science initiatives that encompass training, research, and biological surveillance in cooperation with partner nations. A One Health approach will be applied to enhance the ability to detect and deter biological threats in a safe and secure manner, ensuing compliance to international standards. Under the CTRIC III Task Order 02, Metabiota will support efforts to strengthen laboratory capacity at the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) in Thiès, Senegal. Metabiota will further help develop and institutionalize BS&S Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) in the laboratory environment. Senegalese Task Order has potential to drive $600,000 in revenue for Metabiota, with a 12-month option.
“Metabiota has deep ties to the global health community and has been working hand-in-hand with US Government stakeholders and partner nations for almost a decade,” said Mary Guttieri, executive vice president of Science and Microbiology at Metabiota. “As a result, our team knows what it takes to help countries assess risk and facilitate earlier detection of outbreaks. Working with Black & Veatch on these task orders will help us continue to leverage our analytics and deep scientific knowledge to improve the world’s resilience to epidemics.”
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